Motion picture screen



Dec, 25, A L. A E

MOTI ON PICTURE SCREEN Original Filed Aug. 25, 1928 INVENTOR 4&5272 Z. Razz/e22 BY 7 w} ASL I a 1 1/45 ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 2 5, 1934 i w s L985QG511 rioou nicotine. scnnuu Alpert Lo Raven, Mount Ve no N Ya @riglnol application August 25, 119%, Serial No, 3il2,@i& metrical anal application February ll, ll53, Serial No 425,154

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increases the cost or operation or" a small theatre Where the Vitaphone is run continuously with the showing or the picture mm. Increasing the can tile power of the projection apparatus also increases the danger of burning or damaging the film it passes through the projection machine. cas the Vitaphone is only used occasionally and it s desired to save current, it would he necessary to use two screens of the type heretofore available.

l have discovered that a motion picture projec=-= tion screen may he made which will reflect and diffuse a large portion of the projecmd light and at the same time permit the tree passage therethrough of air and. litre gases and air carried. sounol 1 Waves. In the practice of the invention a foreminous screen is constructed with the perforations or holes passing through the screen at an acute angle to the plane of screen. It is advanta FIG 3 (Gila-fum This invention relates to moving picture screens and has for its object the provision oi certain improvements in moving picture screens. More par ticularly, the invention aims to provide a screen for motion pictures which will aolmit oi the pas sage therethrough of sound Waves and at the s me time present to the spectators a highly rei-lec e and diffusing surface.

In a heretofore customary oi reflecting motion picture screens the foundation or base of the screen is composed. of some a LS'S material, preferably of such a nature little, it any, light may be transmitted themthrough, the primary object being to ohtm trout surface which will reflect toward the spectators a n aizimum' quantity of light Without the prooluc tion a glare as would he produced e. m rored surface. Various means utilized this result; one way of obtaining this closed in my prior Patent No. 1,315,743, .eous to have these holes so disposed that they 20 September 9, 1919. sla c'loivn rally toward the hack of the screen. With the advent of talking motion 1e easpos io of holes in this manner pre such for example, as the Vitaphone, it has vents the d t rays of light from the projection found that when large screens are userl e passing through the holes the sound producing horn placed at one itle e lost. Holes slanted up 25 l 'owarn" the hack of the screen he directly with spectators and would con secuently minute clots on the surface o" owever, because of the tiny SEE p oportion to their spacing o -e uniform oils e surface of the screen, not siuilcie y visible to interfere r cessiul projection of the picture upon screen, the voice or music does emanate from the logical source of the sound, that is, the picture projected on the screen.

effect is particularly noticeuhle when acta picture is speaking while in a post to one margin of the picture, the Vitaphone is located near the opposite ma oi the screen, This eirect is not notice hle enou to he disturbing to those centre the theatre and at a consiclerahle distance i the screen. it, however, is very pronounce one sitting at the side or the a con e ie angle to the screen. the projection appa r M. order to overcome olefect es the ent e back of the hole tvhi is Ifl p e the 115,118)! p que in i th refore total ill li 4% screen locating the l itaphone spec,"

loch-ind the screen, The poi-oi I e cloth screen permits the passage from upon the :y serious oleiect that due to the p m. SW66 n is r duced but slightly by th oss light throng" ilious structure iucent nature or the cloth screen o "t p" screen "aloout 9%) or the light projected con c gh the screen anti is lost, it tron oi the picture is proportionately orcler to compensate for tms, is prop the candle power or the proie tut. however, means a cutest-an i 1 in the current consumption which cu ner similar to its application to the surface of the screen.

The invention will be better understood from. a consideration of the accompanying drawing together with the following description. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a section through a small portion of scrgen made in accordance with the invention, an

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a small fragment of the screen illustrated in Fig. i.

The screen comprises a body 10, of any appropriate material. The front surface 11, which is presented to the spectators, may be slightly roughened in any desired manner to give better diffusion of the reflected light. Thus the screen may be made as described in my prior patent above referred to. The body 10 of the screen is pierced by holes or perforations 12, which preferably slant downwardly from the front 18 of the screen toward the back. Thus, the holes which appear on the surface of the screen do not appear to the spectator as black dots with no illumination. The source of light from the projection machine illuminates the back portions of the holes and a large proportion of this light is reflected out toward the spectators. Only a minor portion of reflected light finds its way through the slanting holes 12 and emerges at the back of the screen. Preferably the holes 12 should have their front orifices higher than the rear orifices. Although in order to meet certain conditions, this relationship of the orifices may be reversed.

It will be noticed from Figs. 1 and 2 that the screen presents a picture receiving surface which is dotted with tiny holes distributed uniformly over the area of the surface. If the sound passages slant downwardly from the front of the screen no shadows will be cast by any part of the intersections of these passages with the surface of the screen. However, if the screen be turned upside down so that the passages slant upwardly from the front surface, then shadows will be cast within each of the passages.

In spite of this, however, the tiny passages are not noticeable to the audience because of their small size relative to their spacing, and yet the passages are ample for the successful transmission of sound through the screen. Thus the principal object of the invention is to provide a screen which will effectively transmit the sound from the rear of the screen and in which the sound holes are not sufllciently visible to interfere to a practicable extent with the showing of the picture.

Either side of the screen may thus be used as the front or reflecting surface depending largely upon whether it is desirable to have the sound waves projected downwardly or upwardly as they leave the front of The question of whether the sound transmitting openings shall slant upwardly or downwardly depends also largely upon the design of the theatre in which the screen is to be used. The deciding factors are the distance of the screen from the spectators and the relative position of the projecting apps. ratus, screen and spectators.

it is not necessary although it may he desirable,

that the material of the body of the screen shall be of a light colored nature, for the surface of the screen after it is formed may be painted with a suitable coating of light reflecting material, such or instance as aluminum paint, the customary white paint and the like. These coatings, however, are not so desirable as a screen in which the body itself is composed of a good light reflecting medium, as for example is shown in my prior patent, and it is usually found advantageous to construct the body of the screen of this type of material.

The improved screen has the advantage, among other things, of simplicity and cheapness, and the small size and relatively large spacing of the holes makes it difllcult to see the holes. Yet even such small holes uniformly arranged over the surface of the screen permit the passage of sound in such volume that the screen is entirely practical.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 302,048, filed August 25, 1928.

I claim:

1. A sound transmitting picture screen for use in producing pictures accompanied by sound, comprising sheet material having a myriad of tiny unobstructed sound passages therethrough, these tiny passages being distributed uniformly over the area of the screen surface and spaced from one another a comparatively great distance in proportion to their size, said passages being arranged obliquely to the plane of the screen, the thickness of the screen, the diameter of the holes, and the obliquity of the passages being so correlated as to prevent loss of at least a portion of the light entering the passages.

2. A sound transmitting picture screen for use in producing pictures accompanied by sound comprising a continuous sheet of material having a plane light reflecting surface to receive the projected picture and provided with a myriad of small, parallel sided holes for the transmission of sound, these sound passages being distributed over the area of the screen surface and spaced from one another a comparatively great distance in proportion to their size, said passages bein arranged obliquely to the plane of the screen, the thickness of the screen, the diameter of the holes, and the obliquity of the passages being so correlated as to prevent loss of at least a portion of the light entering the passages.

3. A sound-transmitting picture screen for use in producing pictures accompanied by sound comprising a single sheet of material having a plane light-reflecting surface, and being perforated with small unobstructed parallel-sided holes distributed over the area of the screen in suflicient number to provide ample transmission of sound through the screen substantially without distortion, while at the same time being spaced from one another a comparatively great distance in proportion to their size thereby preserving the light-reflecting properties of the screen suficiently to erhibit an acceptable picture.

MEET L. RAVEN. 

